


Anniversaries

by advisortotheadvisor



Category: The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Cemetery, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:34:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29845713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/advisortotheadvisor/pseuds/advisortotheadvisor
Summary: He wondered if this was part of the reason why the Scarlet Hand disliked humans so much, because it hurt so much when they died.(or, William Charming makes a visit to a dead man and remembers how dangerous it is to get attached to humans)
Relationships: Jacob Grimm/Prince Charming (The Sisters Grimm), Mr. Canis & Relda Grimm, Puck Goodfellow/Sabrina Grimm
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Anniversaries

**Author's Note:**

> takes place in an au where the grimms never became everafters

William had never liked graveyards. They were depressing, especially in the winter. Going into the future and seeing Snow's grave certainly didn't help any. But here he was anyway, trekking across a nearly empty cemetery at a time far too late and on a night far too cold. Snow covered the landscape like a blanket and coated the outside of his shoes like a glaze. The chill had long seeped into his socks, but he grew accustomed to it. He wondered if emotions worked the same way, if they became more and more numb over time until you felt nothing at all.

Finally, he stopped in front of the right grave. The flowers in his hand grew crumpled and he felt the stems imprint into his palm as he fists clenched involuntarily. This part never got any easier.

_Jacob Grimm, 1978-2014. Beloved son, brother, and husband. You never gain anything by not trying._

William carefully placed the flowers on top of the grave. They were daisies and carnations, with a single red rose in the middle. The exact kind of bouquet he'd have gotten for Jake while he was alive. He wasn't sure if he believed in the afterlife, but for a few minutes, he pretended that he did just so he could imagine Jake somewhere better than six feet under, slowly rotting in a too-small cemetery.

He still remembered the day he found out, though he wished he didn't.

_He had just woken up and was about to make some coffee when someone started to knock at his door, too loud and too rapid for this early in the morning. William groaned, annoyed at who ever dared to disturb his morning, but shuffled to the door nonetheless, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes. It took his barely awake mind a few minutes to properly register who was on his doorstep; Puck._

_"What do you-" He started to ask, but stopped when he realized Puck was crying. In the years that he had known the fairy, William could count on one hand the times he'd seen him cry._

_"I-I'm really sorry," Puck stuttered out, tears slipping down his face._

_"What are you sorry-" he cut himself off once again. This time, it was because of the small, ceramic jar tucked in the crook of Puck's arm. A flood of worst-case scenarios swept through William's mind and it felt like he was a hundred miles away, watching himself ask, "Is- that's not Jake, is it?"_

_Puck nodded slowly and it was like William's brain short-circuited. The words just didn't compute. Jake wasn't allowed to be dead. It had to be a joke, some sick prank cooked up Puck and Jake was going to jump out from the corner and surprise him at any minute. William immediately recognized how juvenile that was, how many levels of self-delusion there were, but he clung to this explanation like a life raft because he wanted, no,_ _needed,_ _some world where Jake was alive, even if it was just a wishful fantasy._

 _"We were fighting this dragon a-and he didn't move fast enough..." Puck didn’t finish his statement, but it was enough to completely crush William's fantasy; Jake was gone forever, passed away,_ _dead._

_For two weeks afterwards, William alternated between crying and screaming before falling into something resembling 'okay'. He would occasionally forget about Jake for a few hours and immediately berate himself when he remembered because how was he supposed to feel fine when Jake was dead?_

_The funeral passed in a blur, with nothing but tears and grief to remember it by. Some remote part of him recalled making a speech at the funeral, though he had been choked up and half-crying the entire time. The only thing he remembered with full clarity was the thought "It shouldn't have been him" circling in his head for hours on end._

He was interrupted from his memories by the sharp crunch shoes against snow. He looked up numbly as another everafter walked up to the headstone next to Jacob's. It was Canis, also carrying flowers. The bouquet was mostly sunflowers, though a few yellow roses poked through. It vaguely registered to him that yellow roses meant friendship, though he wasn't quite sure why he knew that information. Maybe it was something Briar had told him.

William already knew who the flowers were for, after all, Canis didn't have any other dead friends besides Relda. She had died three years after Jake, right on William and Jacob's wedding anniversary. It was a bit ironic, two former enemies going to the same cemetery, both for Grimms. In the past, William might have been disgusted at the idea of having anything in common with the Grimms' self-designated protector, but he was a changed man and felt nothing but kinship for the other man who was feeling everything he was.

Canis nodded at the prince then places the flowers on Relda's grave, brushing some snow off of it as he did. The two men stood in the bitter cold, the moaning of the wind the only sound between them. William wondered if this was part of the reason why the Scarlet Hand disliked humans so much, because it hurt so much when they died. Snow continued to spiral towards the ground, like a dance without music.

Silence reigned on and he wondered what Canis was thinking about. Was he praying? Reflecting on better times with Relda, before his immortality and her lack of it forced them apart? Was he wishing, as William often did, that their positions were reversed, that he was the one who was buried and gone? He didn't ask, though. They might be connected through their similar situations and emotions, but both of them knew that these visits were a private affair.

He barely registered someone else entering the graveyard until they spoke.

"I really shouldn't be surprised that you two are here," Puck said, too mirthful for where they were and what they were doing. He knelt in front of a grave to the right of Canis. From his coat, the fairy fished out two drawings, both in bright colors and folded sloppily in half. With a pang, Charming realized who the drawing were from. Emma and Allison, six and eight respectively, who were Sabrina and Puck's daughters. Their mother had died three years prior after an investigation went sour.

Puck gently placed the pictures on the grave, clearing a bit of snow away so they wouldn't get wet. He was silent for a moment. It was unnerving; even as a grown man, stillness didn't suit him. After a minute, Puck whispered something to the headstone then stood up, brushing off his pants as he faced the other two everafters

"Y'know, Allison really looks like Sabrina. Well, when Sabrina was eight anyway. Daphne and Red are babysitting them. Those two are getting married in May, did you know?" Puck rambled, grasping desperately for a conversation, for a way to avoid the truths lurking in all three men's minds.

As the fairy chattered on, William let his thoughts wander. For the millionth time since Jake died, he pondered why it hurt so much. This time, he thought he might have the beginning of an answer. Jacob was the only person William had been willing to grow old for, to die for even. He'd loved Snow, Cindy, and Briar equally, but they weren't mortal. Jake though, he was human, which meant death was a more of a certainty than if he had been an everafter. When Jake had been alive, William had wondered if he should grow old with Jake, if Jake had expected him too, if he even had the strength to let his neverending life end once and for all. Now, in a world without Jake, William finally knew the answer. In another lifetime, he would have grown old with Jake, would have given up his immortality without a doubt because what is immortality to love?

He started to tune back into the conversation. Puck was still talking about Daphne and Red. William painfully realized that if Red was going to get married to Daphne, she might someday have to join the procession of everafters who had gotten to close to humans before they died. He imagined the girl – well, woman, now, but he could never remember her as anything but that small waif of a girl she had been years ago – joining them on their cold, quiet vigils. It made something harden and sink in his gut. She shouldn't have to go through that. No one should. He knew that sounded hypocritical, considering his relationship with Jake, but he still wanted to spare Red – or anyone else – that particular brand of heartbreak.

It made him think: given the opportunity, would he change anything? Would he have spared himself the heartache, would he choose to keep his distance from Jake? He would have given up immortality for his love, but would he have been willing to find that love somewhere else, in someone that could live as long as he did?

He hated himself for it, but he couldn't find a definite answer to his own questions.

So, with one last look at the grave, William walked out of the cemetery, wondering if getting attached to humans was really worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah so if you know me from tumblr or ffn, you might remember this fic from a couple years ago. decided to give it a rewrite bcus thirteen-year-old me was trying their best, but hoo boy, was their best pretty awful. also, looking back, im fairly certain this was a weird, unintentional vent fic about my grandmother?? who knows, maybe in a couple years ill reread this version and realize i turned it into a weird vent fic about something else. anyways, hit me up on tumblr under this same username if you want to watch me retroactively cancel my middle school self for fridging sabrina, relda, and jake for the sake of Angst(TM)


End file.
